


We Light Up

by asperityblue



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Kid!Lock, M/M, Timelines, all the ages, as in for once i don't kill anyone off, at least it can here, completely ignorant of any and all problems, love can totally overcome everything, teen!lock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-25
Updated: 2014-09-25
Packaged: 2018-02-18 18:13:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2357444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asperityblue/pseuds/asperityblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for a good friend in a bad time—</p>
<p>In which everything actually works out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Light Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [apiscerana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/apiscerana/gifts).



They're 5 years old when they meet, placed side by side on the carpet as the teacher points to numbers and symbols and nothing at all important.

John sees dark, curly hair, enormous grey-green eyes and an unamused scowl before politely averting his eyes.

Sherlock glances at blonde hair and pale skin, blue eyes, big ears, dismisses all of it.

The teacher drones on, occasionally pausing to gesture wildly and ask ridiculous questions. Sherlock knows all of the answers, _obviously_. He barely notices the other students surreptitiously shuffling away from him as he states fact after fact in a bored voice, the teacher starting to glance urgently from pupil to pupil, looking amusingly pleading. He does note that the boy on his left hasn't moved a centimetre.

After he snaps out a particularly long, subtly mocking response, John turns to face him with an awe-struck expression, whispers "amazing", and that is the beginning. He stares at John, properly this time, and grins.

-

At the age of 8, they are inseparable. They read adventure stories and hunt for buried treasure at John's house when his dad isn't home, they catch grasshoppers in Sherlock's huge garden and play Risk with Sherlock's older brother.

The night after Sherlock's father dies, they curl up in the living room in a fort made of pillows and mattresses and the sofa and comfort and safety. They sit beside each other, eyes closed, Sherlock's face contorted and shaking where it's pressed into John's left shoulder. They pretend the tears do not exist. The silence rises until it sweeps the seawater from Sherlock's cheeks. When he speaks, his voice is shivery and crackling.

"You're my best friend."

John nods in the darkness, "you're mine too."

"Sherlock and John."

John starts to get mildly worried. It's not like Sherlock to be so...simple. He opens his eyes, thinks about asking, instead says, "yes."

He watches warily as Sherlock pulls away and leans back against the wall of cushions, limbs tucking in.

Sherlock says, "Sherlock and John," and John is very seriously considering calling the Older Sibling for medical assistance when Sherlock keeps talking.

He says, "Sherlock and John, all the time, always," and smiles.

He looks so content, finally, that John cannot bring himself to say that his Mum told him nothing lasts 'always'.

-

9, Sherlock thinks it's lucky he's right-handed and John is a lefty because they can hold hands under the school table while writing their times tables.

-

10, they are in the school playground laughing at Phil Anderson try to climb up the slide when Sherlock says, "I'm going to marry you when we grow up."

John looks at him, used to Sherlock being anything but normal, shrugs, and points out Sally at the the top of the slide reaching her hands out to try and help Phil. They laugh and the bell rings and one of them forgets.

-

13, John meets Sarah Sawyer in French class. They 'go out' for two whole weeks. John doesn't hold his hand anymore, hasn't for years. But now he's holding _someone else's_ and it makes Sherlock childishly angry and he doesn't know why, which only serves to make him angrier. It's a change to their routine, their schedule of SherlockJohnSherlockJohnSherlockJohn and Sherlock _hates_ change.

-

15, John joins the rugby team, Sherlock really doesn't. The sun turns John golden; Sherlock burns. _Boring_ , he says. They never talk about how Sherlock is at every game.

-

16, Sherlock gets fed up with John's girlfriends and kisses him. John smiles and says, "took you awhile," and Sherlock is incredibly angry with him for approximately two hours.

-

17, Sherlock is forced into one of Mycroft's tedious "social" dances and drags John along because he's quite possibly the only thing in the world that can make it bearable.

Turns out they're both absolutely shit at dancing, but John leads him into an empty room and they waltz to the muffled symphony, leaving dusty foot marks on each other's leather shoes.

Sherlock clumsily jabs a toe into John's shin and very nearly falls over and John pulls him close and giggles and Sherlock _adores_ him.

-

18, John presses a soft, warm scarf in his hands and a soft, warm kiss on his lips and Sherlock decides it's a good birthday.

He strokes a finger over the shirt over the skin over his John's heart and tells him he loves him. John's smile is a flicker, is a candlelight, is a bonfire, is the sun.

They don't like to talk about the future, but now is good, it's good, and he's so, so happy.

-

19, they have sex, and somehow it isn't a huge, life-changing step in their relationship. Perhaps their bodies were just catching up to the closeness their heads and hearts already had.

-

20, university and separation doesn't break them, not when they're still in the same country and there is plentiful wifi.

-

21, John says he's leaving for the army, Sherlock nods and says, "okay."

John nods back and presses his forehead into Sherlock's neck, grips bruises into Sherlock's arms while said arms come around in an embrace so gentle and stable it forces the air out his lips. Neither of them minds very much.

"Sherlock and John."

They get a flat just to make a point.

-

Off to Afghanistan. Sherlock calls and writes and solves crimes and John doesn't die and it's fine. It's all fine.

-

On John's few holidays, they do not leave their flat except for sustenance or serial killers. They don't like to count the days and months and sometimes years between.

-

35, Sherlock gets the call, drops everything and takes the earliest flight to a cold chair at a cold bedside in a cold hospital.

He thinks about nothing except the limp hand he's clutching onto that is so familiar it could have been his own. He focuses all his considerable intellect on the scars and tanned creases in skin because he's not sure he could bear anything more. Just the thought of a life without—

-

36, they are both alive and unspeakably grateful and nothing has changed except now, there are no days between.

-

37, he tapes the ring to a brand new milk carton, puts it carefully between the noses and the bear intestines.

When John goes to make the tea, there is silence and then the odd sound of laughter through tears and Sherlock calls out from the couch, "is this because I did the shopping or because yes, you will in fact marry me?" John says, "you're such an idiot," and then, "both," and kisses him.

-

37.5, John says, "I do." Sherlock mutters, "Told you so."


End file.
